Skip to content
New York State Education

Are You a New York Teacher Spending Your Own Money on School Supplies?

We’re collecting stories from teachers across the state.

Bianca Fortis   ·   August 14, 2024
Three small pails sit atop a counter, one filled with pencils, another filled with markers, and another filled with sticky notes.
During the 2019-20 school year, New York teachers spent an average of $463 on school supplies. | Alan Petersime / Chalkbeat
Stay Focused
Sign up for our free newsletter, and we'll make sure you never miss a beat.
Tweet Share Email Link Republish

This project was produced in partnership with Chalkbeat New York.

Year after year, teachers in New York have had to fill in the gap left by their schools’ thin budgets for expenses as essential as classroom supplies.

During the 2019–2020 school year, New York teachers spent an average of $463 on school supplies, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Ninety-five percent of them purchased supplies with their own money. Some turned to crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe and Donors Choose to cover the cost of basic items like crayons, pencils, and snacks for their students.

New York Focus wants to know how teachers are preparing for the 2024–2025 school year. In partnership with Chalkbeat New York, we’re collecting stories from educators around the state.

Are you a teacher purchasing school supplies out-of-pocket? How much do you plan to spend? Fill out the form below, and let us know if we can connect with you.

Bianca Fortis is the education reporter at New York Focus. She was previously an Abrams reporting fellow at ProPublica, where she spent 18 months investigating how Columbia University protected a predatory doctor who had sexually abused hundreds of patients for more than 20 years… more
More by Bianca Fortis Follow Email
Also filed in New York State
Kathy Hochul’s Parole Board Blunders

The governor promised to fill the chronically understaffed Board of Parole. Nearly half of her nominations have ended in disaster.

Chris Gelardi
Small School Districts Face Costs of Settling Decades-Old Abuse Claims

Hundreds of Child Victims Act cases have been filed against New York schools, some over accused serial offenders that could leave districts with tens of millions of dollars in liability.

Bianca Fortis
As Utilities Push for Higher Energy Bills, Will New York Fund the Watchdogs Pushing Back?

New York’s consumer advocacy groups struggle to compete with well-funded utilities and corporations. Lawmakers want to level the playing field.

Colin Kinniburgh
Also filed in Education
Lacking State Funding, Rural Schools Struggle to Provide Remote Health Care

In rural school districts where doctors are hard to find, in-school telehealth services seemed like a good solution. Then New York state stopped funding them.

Bianca Fortis
The NYPD Descent on Columbia, Told by Student Journalists

The mayor and the police blamed “outside agitators” for campus protests. Student journalists reported what they saw.

Uzma Afreen, Angelica Ang, Fahima Degia, Mukta Joshi, Arshi Qureshi, Indy Scholtens and Sammy Sussman
Unions Join the Fight to Slash Economic Development Tax Breaks

When local authorities hand out subsidies, school budgets lose revenue. The state teachers union is now pushing back.

Arabella Saunders